Do we lose the ability to wonder, or just to wonder aimlessly?

Alberto Knox states that we lose the ability to wonder. However, I feel that instead of losing the ability to wonder, we change our perspective in when, how and what we wonder about.

On page 17, we have the incident where daddy starts flying over the dinner table. The child, not knowing that people can not naturally fly, is enthralled and entranced. The mother requires medication instead. Yet can we say that she is not wondering why this is happening?

Being a grown up, she understands that the world we live in has limits. 3+5=8, and not 9. When a dog goes "bow-wow", she does not exclaim in surprise when it happens. This is because she understands the general limitations of things we know about. The mother recognizes that dogs go "bow-wow" and therefore does not start wondering how amazing this is. If she did not, then she would turn googly-eyed every time we experienced something. If daddy sat on his chair, the mother would not wonder why. If she did, she might be distracted and forget that the toast is burning, or that the kitchen has caught fire!

However, when exposed to something new or thought provoking, we start wondering. If someone gave you a yellow banana, you would not be very amazed. But let's say that you were given a red banana. I know that Red Bananas exist, so I would not be surprised. However, a vast majority of people do not know that there are Red Bananas. They would be surprised because it does not follow the limits they know of (Bananas are yellow) and would start wondering.

"Where did this Banana come from? Is it painted? Is it alien? Is it a freak mutation? Is it actually a real banana?"


We also change perspective in how we wonder. Suppose a ball of string suddenly rolled across the table. A child, (who supposedly wonders about everything) would wonder where that ball is going and chases after the ball. Most adults, however, would wonder where that ball is came from and look around.

This subjective wondering allows us to think practically. If we are suddenly stabbed by a poison coated dagger, we wonder what just happened, what should I do next and can someone save us. We *could* wonder how long the dagger was, where it was made, how the assassin gripped the dagger and so on. But it wouldn't be very useful or practical.

This focused wondering allows us to deal with what is most important at hand, and solve it. "How should I manage my time well? Should I buy the over-priced and tasteless Canteen food? Should I really be on Facebook instead of doing my ToK assignment?"


The final point I would like to make is what we wonder about.

Many things we take for granted today have their basis in wonder. Halo was dreamt up by creators in Bungie Studios. Blogger and Facebook were dreamt up by someone who wanted to create a large social network with a purpose. Sophie's World was dreamt up by someone who wanted to write about Philosophy.

And in that way, we can say wondering is far more common than we think. Dreams are wonders in their own way, both as thoughts, and as treasures themselves.

In a sense, Philosophy doesn't have to necessarily have to be all about the big questions: "Where did we come from? Is there a God?" Philosophy can be far more subtle. Philosophy is about thinking and dreaming.

So when we grow up, we stop wondering about lots of things. A dog is a dog, maths is hard, 3+2=5. But we still do wonder all the time. Just in a different way.

What do you wonder about this post?